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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27096007">The Slayer Job</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv'>shnuffeluv</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Leverage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action &amp; Romance, Angst and Drama, Bombs, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Magic, F/M, Temporary Character Death, Thwarted Terrorist Attacks, Vampires, vampire!Eliot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:48:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,038</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27096007</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot's walking down the street, when he may-or-may-not have accidentally picked up a job.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eliot Spencer (Leverage)/Buffy Summers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Five Figure Fanwork Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/gifts">jedibuttercup</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Eliot walked down the street, his eyes were searching for threats. Just because he wasn't on a con didn't mean that there wasn't danger lurking in every corner. It was a lesson that he had learned the hard way, but it was one that he wasn't soon to forget.</p><p>Looking down the street, he saw the beginnings of a scuffle. A pickpocket, and a lousy one at that, was trying to take this woman's purse. She caught him in the act and yanked the purse up her shoulder. She had blonde hair, looked to be about her mid-twenties. She reminded him of Parker for some reason he couldn't explain, but then the guy was trying to grab her purse by force and she yelped in surprise. Eliot rushed forward.</p><p>Before he could stop the guy from doing anything hasty, he pulled out a gun. Eliot inwardly snarled as he slowed to a stop. People screamed and rushed away, and the woman put her hands up in surrender. "Easy," she said slowly. "Put the gun down and this never happened."</p><p>"The purse," the man snarled. "Now."</p><p>In the blink of an eye, the woman kicked upward and disarmed the guy, before placing an expert punch on his jaw and sending him staggering away. She inspected her nails, and Eliot blinked. This woman had some serious skills. He moved forward to grab the abandoned gun off the sidewalk, and his hand brushed against hers. They locked eyes, and she was looking to see if he was a threat and any spots she could disarm him immediately. Eliot was more than impressed. "Not here to hurt you," he said, picking up the gun. "Just want to make sure that no one gets hurt."</p><p>She let him stand and pocket the gun, and as people realized the threat was no longer there, they started to walk around Eliot and this mysterious woman. "Eliot," he said, sticking his hand out.</p><p>"Buffy," she said, giving his hand a firm shake.</p><p>He could feel the strength in her grip and he smiled. "I like your moves," he told her. "Where'd you train?"</p><p>"You probably don't know the place," Buffy said with a little shrug.</p><p>"Fair enough," Eliot allowed. She wanted to keep secrets, and he couldn't exactly blame her for that. "I was planning on getting some coffee. Care to come with me?"</p><p>"Oh, sure!" she said. "I'm new to the area. Trying to find my way around."</p><p>"I'm just passing through," Eliot said. "Heading home from a business trip. Felt like taking the backroads."</p><p>She grinned at him and he smiled back. They went and got coffee, and he paid. They sat down on a bench at a local park, just looking around. Eliot liked Buffy. She was quick on her feet, both literally and metaphorically. She had smarts like Hardison, but she also had a certain charm about her that Hardison didn't. She was soft around the edges, had a certain spice to her smile that Eliot enjoyed seeing. They wound up spending most of the day together, and when Eliot went to the local railroads to hitch a ride home, she came with him to exchange phone numbers.</p><p>Before Eliot could hop on any incoming trains, though, a branch cracked from behind them. Eliot glanced around, but couldn't see anything. Buffy reached into her purse and Eliot could only see something vaguely wooden in it before someone was on top of them.</p><p>He shoved them backwards, throwing a few punches and taking a couple hits before headbutting the guy and sending him tumbling down. Instead of staying down, though, like any normal person would have from such a blow, the guy came back up. Buffy shoved Eliot out of the way and stuck the piece of wood roughly through where this guy's heart would be, and he keeled over. An incoming train blew past them, the wind blowing Eliot and Buffy's hair sideways as they evaluated each other. "Something tells me you're a person I should know," Eliot said simply.</p><p>Buffy panted. She wasn't out of shape, not by any means, but she must have been coming down from an adrenaline high. "You're going to miss your train," she said, pointing behind him.</p><p>The train passed. The wind died down, and the only thing Eliot could do was shrug. "Some people are worth missing trains for," he said by way of explanation. "I would like to know what the hell just happened."</p><p>Buffy licked her lips, seemed to consider her options. "Let's talk away from the dead guy," she finally settled on.</p><p>Eliot nodded and followed her as she walked down beside the train tracks. "Any particular reason that guy didn't stay down?" he asked her.</p><p>"Well, he's sort of...not human," Buffy said hesitantly.</p><p>"Yeah, you know what? I kind of expected that," Eliot said, nodding. "Would not be the weirdest thing I've ever had to deal with."</p><p>"You're surprisingly calm about this," Buffy informed him.</p><p>"I was in the army," Eliot said, like that explained everything.</p><p>Apparently, to Buffy, it did. "Oh. Well. He's a vampire," she said. "And I've been trying to hunt down a nest locally, because there's been a lot of occult happenings going around recently."</p><p>"That's...unfortunate," Eliot said. "But why do you have to be the one stopping them?"</p><p>"I'm a Slayer," Buffy said, as if that explained everything.</p><p>But to Eliot, that meant nothing. "What's that?" he asked.</p><p>Buffy blew out a breath. "I mean...it's sort of like being 'The Chosen One.' You get in a lot of trouble for no good reason and you're just expected to be able to do all this stuff with minimal training, and it sucks."</p><p>"Sounds like it sucks," Eliot said, glancing at her.</p><p>She brushed her hair out of her face. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to delay wherever you're going for a couple of days?" she asked. "I could use some real help with these guys, and it's a pain in the ass to deal with them alone. My friends are good, but they can't fight, so I had to do this on my own."</p><p>"Sure, I can help," Eliot said simply. "What do you need?"</p><p>Buffy took a breath. "Well, first things first, I need you to be equipped," she said, offering her hand out. "Come with me, and I'll get you set up."</p><p>Eliot took her hand and she dragged him away from the railroads to a shady looking motel outside the city. He followed her into a room and she passed him a wooden stake. "Guard that with your life," she told him. "It's the best defense against vampires."</p><p>Eliot nodded as she opened a suitcase filled with a bunch of things Eliot recognized would defend against supernatural superstitions, such as salt, holy water, and silver. "How many of these jobs have you done?" he asked her.</p><p>"Too many," she said, grabbing a few things from the suitcase and shutting it roughly. "You were in the army. You know how to shoot?"</p><p>Eliot nodded, and she passed him a gun. "Silver bullets," she said. "Don't waste them, they're super expensive and my day job only pays so much. Being the Chosen One doesn't pay at all, so you can imagine the kind of stress I'm under."</p><p>Again, Eliot could only nod.</p><p>Buffy took a breath. "I haven't found any unusual activity around the city, she complained. "I don't know where to look for these guys. They're extremely well hidden."</p><p>"I...might know a guy who can help with that," Eliot said.</p><p>Buffy arched an eyebrow at him.</p>
<hr/><p>Hardison was complaining down the line at Eliot. "And <em>why</em> do you have me looking up rumors about supernatural shit in a city you're supposed to be passing through?" he asked. "Parker is constantly asking if you're doing side jobs."</p><p>"It's none of Parker's business if I'm doing side jobs or not," Eliot snapped.</p><p>"Nate's gonna ask soon too, you know," Hardison pointed out.</p><p>"To hell what Nate thinks," Eliot snapped. "Just do the damn search!"</p><p>"Touchy," Hardison tutted.</p><p>"Is he always like this?" Buffy asked him in a low tone.</p><p>"Unfortunately," Eliot told her with a sigh, and she grinned.</p><p>"Who's there with you?" Hardison asked.</p><p>"No one," Eliot lied.</p><p>Hardison's eye roll was practically audible.</p><p>"Fine. A girl. Ya happy?" Eliot snarled.</p><p>"Ooh, a girl, huh?" Hardison asked with obvious glee. "And she, what, wanted to know about supernatural stuff in the city? She into all that occult shit?"</p><p>"You could say that," Eliot said. A glance at Buffy proved that she was unamused with Eliot and Hardison's talk, and she cracked her knuckles. "How long is this search gonna take, man?"</p><p>"Have a little patience, man! Searching for this shit is a science, not an art!" Hardison snapped.</p><p>Buffy scoffed and Eliot shared an <em>I know, right?</em> look with her.</p><p>"All right, I have something on the outskirts of town, but you got to be careful, Eliot. It's some sort of motel with a huge building behind it. Lots of suspicious purchases from occult shops."</p><p>Eliot and Buffy shared a wary glance. "What's the name of the place?" he asked.</p><p>There was a knock at the door.</p><p>"Smitty's," Hardison said. "On the corner of—"</p><p>"—Jefferson Ave and Rooster's Road," Eliot hissed into the phone.</p><p>"Yeah. Eliot, tell me you're not—"</p><p>Eliot hung up before Hardison could finish his question. The knock persisted at the door. Buffy drew out her stake and Eliot grabbed his. She opened the door with the steak behind her back and smiled sweetly at the man at the door. "Can I help you?" she asked.</p><p>"We got calls of a noise disturbance in the room, Miss," the man said stiffly.</p><p>"Oh, that's odd, we haven't been doing much," Buffy said.</p><p>The man looked into the room and caught sight of Elliot. His eyes drifted down to the stake in Eliot's hands, and hissed, mouth showing fangs.</p><p>Buffy acted fast, stabbing the man and dragging him into the room, closing the door. "We'll be surrounded in a minute," she informed Eliot. "Tell me they're not out back."</p><p>Eliot went to the windows and looked out, to find a man and a woman standing there expectantly. "No such luck," he said.</p><p>"Shit," Buffy hissed. "We need a way out of here."</p><p>Eliot ran to the bathroom, only to find no windows. He was about to go to the door when banging started up on it. Eliot and Buffy looked between each other, then to the suitcase. "No chance we can make a run for it?" he asked her.</p><p>"Not if we're surrounded," she informed him. "Such a shame, too! I <em>just</em> bought that Holy Water!"</p><p>Eliot went to the suitcase and stuffed as many bullets as he could into his pockets, as well as grabbing the gun. The door burst open and Buffy started fighting. Eliot joined the fray shortly after, stabbing the undead viciously as much as he could. He kept an eye out to make sure he wasn't hitting Buffy, but it was clear that they were outnumbered, and wouldn't last long.</p><p>As the two of them continued to fight, Buffy started to slow, and Eliot knew he wasn't far behind her. They were fighting hard, but the vampires kept coming, and Eliot knew if they didn't stop now, they'd be forcibly stopped within a few minutes.</p><p>He swung at a vampire who ducked, and caught another one in the neck. They hissed and ripped his stake out of his hands, before putting him in a headlock. "Stop, or the man dies!" they yelled.</p><p>Buffy, surprisingly, stopped. "You guys aren't fighting fair, you know that?" she asked petulantly as a vampire ripped the stake out of her hands.</p>
<hr/><p>As the two were tied up in the basement of the building behind the motel, which appeared to be the vampire's base, Buffy was complaining as the vampires destroyed everything she had brought with her. "Come on, that dress was one of my favorites!" she complained. "The silver embroidery made it cost extra at the shop I found it at!"</p><p>The vampires glared at her, unimpressed, but she continued to bitch. Elliot tugged at the rope around his wrists, but it was no use. These guys were using the strong stuff.</p><p>They had already been frisked, and Eliot had the gun taken from him. But surprisingly, the vampires kept that one. He had been pleased when they stuck their hands in his pockets and howled as they came into contact with the silver. That had earned him a pretty bruise on the eye, but it had been well worth it.</p><p>"Now then, Miss Summers," one of the vampires purred. "Are you not going to introduce us to your new friend?"</p><p>Buffy just glared at the vampire and said nothing.</p><p>"Nothing to say, hm?" she asked. "A pity. I would have loved to know this one's name before I turned him."</p><p>"You could ask me yourself," Eliot snarled.</p><p>"You don't seem inclined to answer," she said innocently.</p><p>"Right, because Buffy is going to say any more than I am," Eliot snarked. He tugged at the rope again. "As soon as I get out of this, you realize, you're dead."</p><p>"I'm afraid you'll be having a few more problems than just fighting once you're out of those ropes," she said, laying a lingering hand on his wrist.</p><p>Eliot snarled and tugged at the ropes harder, baring his teeth.</p><p>She tutted. "You would be a lovely snack," she lamented. "But it appears my higher-ups have other plans for the two of you."</p><p>"And what would those be?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"They want you as their guard," she spoke to Eliot, before turning to Buffy, "And they want you as a stuffed decoration."</p><p>"Right, because I'll ever let that happen!" Buffy snarled. She wasn't tugging at the ropes, but she was glancing around the room they were in every chance she got, trying to come up with a plan.</p><p>The vampire scoffed as she looked at Buffy. "I don't think that you really know who you're up against," she said with a wicked smile. "I'm familiar with you, Miss Summers. I've done my homework. You're not about to get away from me so easily."</p><p>There was a creak of the basement door and the vampire's head turned. Eliot just rolled his eyes when a quick glance told him no one was there. "Who's there?" the vampire called.</p><p>"Not there, here!" Parker chirped from behind the vampire, before sticking something in the vampire's neck, causing her to collapse.</p><p>"How long will that keep her out?" Eliot asked as Parker began fighting with a few of the other vampires in the room and Eliot and Buffy began making moves of their own.</p><p>"A couple minutes at most," Buffy said, whirling around and swinging a chair over one of the vampire's heads. "We need to leave. Now."</p><p>"Don't have to tell me twice," Eliot told her, grabbing Parker by the wrist and dragging her out of the room with Buffy and him.</p><p>They made it to the surface and Buffy make her way out of the rope just in time to see the rest of the Leverage team waiting. She got into a fighting position, but Eliot held out his still bound hands to stop her. "It's okay, it's okay! They're mine!" he exclaimed. "They're mine! We don't need to fight them."</p><p>Nate stepped forward, clearly unamused. "Eliot, you have a lot of explaining to do."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After an explanation from Buffy, with a few helpful add-ons from Eliot, Sophie looked shocked, Parker skeptical, Hardison freaked, and Nate was just pinching his nose with his head bowed, clearly irritated but otherwise unreadable. "Great, just great," he muttered. "What am I supposed to do with this knowledge, exactly?"</p><p>"Nothing," Buffy said. "You know why Eliot and I were here, mystery solved, you can go on with your lives."</p><p>"What? No, no, no, no, no. We can't just <em>go on</em> with our lives knowing an entire supernatural world is out there!" Nate exclaimed.</p><p>"Uh, did you miss the part where you die and literally <em>get possessed?!</em> Because I am <em>perfectly</em> fine letting that world live on its own without me in it!" Hardison exclaimed.</p><p>"This is fascinating," Sophie said. "I mean I knew that some of my contacts were a bit odd but this would explain so much of certain behaviors I could never understand!"</p><p>Buffy blinked. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to give me their names?"</p><p>"Oh, no no no, they're not harming anyone, and I have no guarantee they're even vampires, but it is fascinating to consider," Sophie said.</p><p>"I still don't quite believe these things are real," Parker said.</p><p>"You would if you saw the one that got up after I hit them," Eliot said simply.</p><p>"Are you two...involved?" Sophie asked.</p><p>Buffy and Eliot were quick to deny that. "No, we just met a couple hours ago," Buffy said.</p><p>"She's a good fighter, sure, but I'm not sure I'd sleep with her!" Eliot protested.</p><p>"What, you wouldn't?" Buffy asked with a sly smile.</p><p>"I never said, 'no,' I said I wasn't sure," Eliot shot back with a grin of his own. "Those are not the same."</p><p>"Oh, I'm sure," Buffy scoffed.</p><p>But before it could go further, Parker cleared her throat. "If you guys could get a private room to make out, that'd be great," she said.</p><p>Eliot snarled. "You never get a room to make out with Hardison," he snapped back.</p><p>"Doesn't mean I want to watch other people do it," she said.</p><p>"Why do you get to make out with people bu—"</p><p>"—All right, all right, enough," Nate said, putting his hands up. "Parker, everyone knows you didn't sleep on the ride over, okay? No need to get snappy. Eliot, we thought you might be dead for a couple hours. Not everyone is going to bounce back to normal after that."</p><p>Eliot rolled his eyes but shut up. Buffy cocked a hip. "I don't suppose you guys would be willing to help me out with something?" she asked.</p><p>"Is this a supernatural something?" Nate asked.</p><p>"I don't know," Buffy said, pursing her lips. "There's this company I need to get into, take a look at their records, see what's going on with them. I've never been able to get through, but you might have better luck with their security."</p><p>"What makes you think we can do that for you?" Nate asked.</p><p>"Please. The way Eliot hits, his team is anything <em>but</em> on the up-and-up. I don't care how you get it done, but I would like to get all the intel you can gather on them, so I can look through the signs for any vampiric activity."<span class="u"></span></p><p>"I don't want nothing to do with this, all right?" Hardison asked. "I don't want to deal with ghosts, or-or demons, <em>or</em> vampires! I'm not doing this, man!"</p><p>"You're doing it if I say you're doing it," Nate said simply. "And we're doing it."</p><p>Hardison groaned. "Nate, messing with this stuff has bad vibes, man. I don't like it."</p><p>"You don't have to like it, you just have to do it," Nate replied simply.</p><p>Buffy shook her head. "I don't want to involve anyone who's not willing," she said. "If you can make a program that gathers data without leaving your mark on it, that's good enough for me. They can know that they had their files copied, so long as they don't know specific files I'm looking for."</p><p>Hardison ran his hands over his head and thought. "Yeah, I guess I can do that," he allowed. "I guess I can make that. But don't involve me any further, all right?"</p><p>"Fine," Buffy agreed.</p><p>Eliot wasn't quite ready to let this drop. "What's the matter, Hardison?" he teased. "Scared of the dark?"</p><p>"Don't even start on me, man," Hardison growled. "I don't very much like the idea of getting killed by these things, and having someone else take over my body. All right?"</p><p>"Fine. Does mean you're a wuss, but fine," Eliot said.</p><p>"All right, you wanna know something, man? You wanna know something?" Hardison asked. "My nana, she knew stuff about witches. And she taught me just what I needed to stay safe. All this time, I thought it was superstition. Finding out that it's real? Nah, man. Nah. I ain't messing with that if I can help it."</p><p>"What was her name? I might know her," Buffy asked.</p><p>"I ain't offering her name to strangers," Hardison said. "No offence."</p><p>"None taken. You're smarter than you look," Buffy said.</p><p>"What's that supposed to mean?!" Hardison squawked.</p><p>Buffy and Eliot shared a knowing grin. It was always fun to piss off the nerd types—within reason, of course.</p><p>"So, are we gonna go break into a building?" Parker asked with glee evident on her face.</p><p>"Let's go steal some vampires," Nate declared.</p>
<hr/><p>Eliot walked in the building with Buffy, looking around. He whistled. "Swanky place," he said.</p><p>"Top-level security. Couldn't take them on my own," Buffy said.</p><p>"Doubt I could either," Eliot allowed.</p><p>"I know you couldn't. I'm clearly stronger than you and they beat me out," Buffy said with a smirk.</p><p>"You're not stronger than me!" Eliot protested. "If anything, we're equal fighters, but I'm <em>definitely</em> stronger than you!"</p><p>"Oh?" Buffy asked. "Then prove it. Take their security on your own."</p><p>Eliot snorted. "Nice try. I'm not stupid," he said. "We take them together. Person with the most unconscious bodies at the end of the day wins."</p><p>"Deal," Buffy said with a nod.</p><p>Together, they walked decisively to the elevators. The security clearly recognized Buffy and immediately got on her, but they weren't expecting Eliot. And while the two caused a scene by the elevators, Parker slipped past them to gain access to the vents. Nate and Sophie walked in with their roles firmly in place, and American and a Brit looking for the same deal. They were arguing like old rivals, and Eliot would have said they had known each other for decades had he not known this particular role was fabricated.</p><p><em>Although...the best facades are made with a pinch of reality,</em> he considered.</p><p>By the time Buffy and Eliot were escorted out, They were practically laughing, and they knew each other's moves perfectly. Not a single blow happened from friendly fire. "You're good," Eliot conceded. "Not better than me. But equal."</p><p>"I can work with equal," Buffy allowed.</p><p>Parker bounded up to them like a child on Christmas Eve. "I've got the drive!" she chirped softly. "Ready to read through it?"</p>
<hr/><p>They went back to the Leverage office to look through things, because Hardison had to make sure there wasn't any malware copied over but he refused to bring Lucille anywhere near the corporate entity that was GuestLabs. He cleared everything, and then Buffy and Eliot were allowed to transfer the drive to another computer so that Eliot "wouldn't destroy" any of Hardison's stuff.</p><p>They read over everything, starting with the easily accessible files and slowly diving more into the encryption. Predictably, they found nothing on the top layer, but as they moved down, things got more interesting. "...Okay, see, right there! They have an excess of blood drawn that doesn't go towards donations or testing. That's a red flag," Buffy said. "What else would they be using blood for? They could do under the table tests, or they could be drinking it, but either way, it needs to be investigated."</p><p>Eliot nodded. "These numbers, they look random at first glance, but they're really about evenly spaced from each other. See, they're fabricated," he said.</p><p>Buffy looked at him. "Where'd you pick that one up?"</p><p>"I had a friend who used to watch a lot of buddy-cop shows. One of them was about this mathematician who helped the FBI solve cases. He never shut up about it. It was annoying at the time, but I know more about math now than anyone suspects."</p><p>"You know, I don't think it's quite fair," Buffy mused, glancing around the office to confirm they were the only two using the room.</p><p>Eliot frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked.</p><p>"I mean, they underestimate you," Buffy said. "They see you as hired muscle, as 'just' a hitter. You're intelligent, Eliot. I can tell that from spending two days with you. But they don't see it."</p><p>Eliot shrugged. "Nate sees it," he said. "And that's enough."</p><p>"Is it?" Buffy pressed.</p><p>Eliot sighed. "I mean, here's the thing. Hardison is book smart. He relies on book smarts and doesn't see other forms of intelligence as highly as he values book smarts. Parker is smart in practical matters. She knows how many people she can pickpocket, what it might be worth at a pawn shop, and she knows about security systems I've never even heard of before. Sophie is people smart. She knows exactly how to charm her way into anyone's bed she chooses. She can get whatever she wants from people, and plays them like a fiddle to do it. Nate...Nate's different. He has the book smarts, the people smarts, and the rational, practical smarts as well. He knows how to play the game perfectly. And he knows that in order to do it, he needs me, too. Because I'm smart when it comes to fighting, to strategy, to tactics. I get the things that the others don't, and I'm willing to make calls the others aren't. I'm not the smart guy, not conventionally. But everyone on this team knows that I'd defend them with my life, and that's no small feat.</p><p>"I don't trust easy. But I trust these guys. 'Cause I know people well enough to know when they're people I can trust. And I trust these guys. Instincts rarely lead me wrong, and I never get any bad instincts from hanging around here. I may feel undervalued sometimes. I may get irritated with Parker or Hardison when they say something and expect me to understand without an explanation. But at the end of the day, they're my people. And they know I'm smart on  some level. Maybe it's not theirs, but they know it."</p><p>Buffy sighed. "I'm jealous," she said with a laugh. "I'd love to be around people who don't see me as some dumb co-ed trying to muddle through being a Slayer."</p><p>"Well, if ever want to feel valued, give me a call sometime, I can help out, find a way for you to help around here," Eliot said.</p><p>"Thanks," Buffy said with a smile. "And if you ever want to feel valued as a hitter, give me a call, I'm sure I can find some people who need to be smacked down a couple pegs for you to take your aggression out on."</p><p>Eliot huffed a laugh and they stared at each other a minute. Eliot felt like he was getting a better feel for Buffy, and he liked what he saw in her. She moved a little closer to him and he leaned into her, and they kissed for a second. They shared another smile, tentatively relaxing in each other's presence. "Anything else off in these files?" Eliot asked, gesturing to the folder they had pulled up on the laptop.</p><p>"Nothing I can see," Buffy said, shaking her head. "Do we go to the next level now? Or do we take a break? It is getting late."</p><p>Eliot checked the time and saw it was almost midnight. "I say we go through one more folder," he said. "Then we can go to sleep and regroup in the morning."</p><p>Buffy nodded and they scanned the next couple files from the next folder intently. There was <em>something</em> shady about them, something that Eliot couldn't place. "Mark these," he said to Buffy. "I want to ask Nate about them in the morning."</p><p>Buffy did so. "What do you see?" she asked.</p><p>"I don't know," Eliot said. "But it's nothing good."</p><p>Buffy looked at the next file and whistled. "Talk about not good," she said. "There's studies in here about siring."</p><p>"Siring?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"Turning people into vampires," she explained. "There's something about it that isn't easy, and it takes a special ritual to get people to turn. But they're looking at different methods of blood ingestion. They're trying to see if they can drain people's blood without having them drink any of the vampire's blood directly and still turn. This is <em>not</em> good."</p><p>"What does this mean?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"If we're not careful, it means there are going to be a lot more vampires popping up," Buffy said. "And I don't like the thought of mass sirings. Too many people to deal with, and not nearly enough time."</p><p>Eliot nodded. "Not to mention, if they can achieve this, it might become something akin to a terrorist attack," he said. "They can get people in a position with major blood loss, get them to drink some of the vampire's blood, and all of a sudden, you have undead spilling out of a major attack on transportation or infrastructure and you can't touch them, because police and paramedics will be everywhere. And that's more people to kill."</p><p>"This is so not good," Buffy breathed. "We have to stop them."</p><p>"How are we gonna do that?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"I don't know," Buffy said. "If we blow up the building they can just build a new one. We'd have to find the mastermind behind this research and kill them, and then kill whoever is wanting the research done, and kill them."</p><p>"Do we have to kill them?" Eliot asked. "What if we just ensured no one ever took them on again? They can't move to the private sector, and they can't get anywhere without us knowing about it."</p><p>Buffy chewed her lip. "It might work," she said. "But if they're vampires, I have a duty to kill them anyway."</p><p>"If they're not, though, we can just prove them frauds?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"Yeah. No killing necessary, there. But how would we manage that?"</p><p>Eliot smiled. "That's where my team comes in. See, they're not totally useless. I tell Nate what we found and with a little more research he'll have a plan for us to manage the issue. One and done."</p><p>"Just like that?" Buffy asked skeptically.</p><p>"You'll see," Eliot said.</p><p>Buffy sighed. "Okay, I'm gonna trust you on this one. But if it fails, I will be saying 'I told you so.'"</p><p>"Deal," Eliot said.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The heist never happened. Oh, sure, they made a plan with Nate and got the whole team together to talk it through—or at least, they tried to. Hardison was nowhere to be found. "I'm calling him," Nate grumbled.</p><p>"Nate, you know he doesn't like this sort of thing," Sophie said.</p><p>"I don't care. We need him, even if he's working from here, and he's being a no-show. I'm calling him," Nate said decisively.</p><p>As the phone rang out, Nate growled and grumbled under his breath. Elliot was sitting in his usual position at the table, but something felt majorly off to him. He texted Hardison's number, a quick check-in, signed with his first name, because he knew that would get Hardison reasonably riled up to tell him about Caller ID, regardless of whether or not he showed.</p><p>What he got in return chilled him to the bone. <em>If you want to see your friend alive, meet us at the thrift shop on Elm and Willow Ave. Now.</em></p><p>He showed the text to Buffy and she looked up at him, nodding. These guys were definitely serious.</p><p>Standing up, Eliot said, "Hardison's not showing. I'm heading out to get him."</p><p>"I'll come with," Buffy said.</p><p>"Something wrong?" Nate prompted.</p><p>"There will be if he's fine and he's at his place ignoring us," Elliot growled.</p><p>Nate waved them off, but Sophie kept eyes on them until they closed the door. "Walk normally," he said lowly to Buffy. "They'll hear us run. We gotta walk and act normal, at least until we get to my car."</p><p>"What happens if you drive like you're in a war zone?" Buffy asked.</p><p>"I always drive like I'm in a war zone," Elliot said as they got out the front door and sprinted to his car.</p><p>He hopped in, turned the car on, and floored the gas. Buffy grabbed the hold bar and let out a muffled squeak of surprise. "You weren't kidding," she breathed, white-knuckled grip on the hold bar never wavering.</p><p>"Nope," Elliot said with a grim smile.</p><p>They got to the corner of Willow Ave and Elm, and Elliot parked in the nearest available parking spot, before rushing into the store. The store clerk looked at him with surprise. "Ah, hello, how may I help you today?" he asked.</p><p>"Where's Hardison?" Elliot growled.</p><p>Buffy entered the shop and froze when she saw the clerk. "Giles?" she asked.</p><p>Elliot turned. "You know this guy?"</p><p>When he turned back, there was a vampire behind Giles with a gun to his head. "Just...do as they say," he said, swallowing. "I rather like my brain <em>inside</em> my skull."</p><p>Elliot glared at the vampire, who gestured with a free hand to the door behind the counter. "By all means, come on in," he said. "You too, Slayer."</p><p>Buffy and Elliot shared a glance and walked through the door slowly. Standing there was the CEO of Guest Labs and someone Elliot had never seen before, but Buffy sucked in a breath at seeing. "Surprised, Miss Summers?" the unknown man taunted at her.</p><p>"You're supposed to be dead," she said, slowly walking forward.</p><p>Hardison was sitting in the middle of the room, tied to a chair and gagged. "You gagged him?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"He talked too much," the CEO said with disdain.</p><p>"He tends to do that," Eliot said with a weak smile. "I don't blame you."</p><p>"How did you get into our system?" the CEO asked. "My security caught you two before you even reached the elevator."</p><p>"You think that I would go in without backup?" Eliot snorted. "Please. I run in a team, now."</p><p>"So this hacker," the CEO said, gesturing at Hardison. "He's part of your...team? He wasn't just hired to set up the program to grab all our files?"</p><p>"You think that he did that?" Eliot asked skeptically.</p><p>"He left his signature in the program that robbed us," the CEO said.</p><p>"Dammit, Hardison, I told you to delete that!" Eliot snapped.</p><p>Hardison gave him a look that roughly equated to <em>And let those guys get their greedy little hands on my program?</em> and Eliot snarled. "You were supposed to stay out of this, man, and that's how you would have stayed out!"</p><p>"Enough chatter!" the other man snapped. "It's time to see if our new method of siring really works."</p><p>The man moved towards Hardison, but just before he could take a bite, Eliot laughed. "Wait, wait, wait. You think that you can turn <em>him</em> into a vampire?" he scoffed.</p><p>"Eliot!" Buffy hissed.</p><p>"I am the leader of all of vampire kind. I know how to turn a mere mortal into one of us. Is there a problem?" the man scoffed.</p><p>"Yeah. Hardison never gets <em>any</em> sun on a normal day. He sits in the dark with his blackout curtains and computers and—you think that you'd be able to tell the difference between him now and him as a vampire? The man subsides off of orange soda and snark! I guarantee you that he's half-vampire already. He certainly meets the less flattering qualifications."</p><p>Hardison was glaring at Eliot, but the man moved away from Hardison. "Then what do you suggest?" he asked, a slight lisp in his voice.</p><p>"Maybe take on someone your own size. Relatively," Eliot said. "I can fight, I'm not a helpless sitting duck like Hardison is. I thought you people liked a chase, at any rate."</p><p>"Eliot!" Buffy exclaimed. "Don't do that!"</p><p>"You know what?" the man asked. "You're right. I think you'd be a far, <em>far</em> better contestant for this experiment."</p><p>"Anything I can call you before we fight?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"You may call me...The Master," he hissed.</p><p>Eliot snickered. "Not gonna happen," he said.</p><p>"It will when you've turned!" the man said, before rushing forward at superhuman speed.</p><p>Eliot ducked and dodged away from his grip, turning and doing a one eighty to face the man again. "What, is that the best you've got?" Eliot asked.</p><p>The Master hissed and rushed him again, and this time Eliot took him by the arms and shoved him roughly into the wall. The Master scrabbled for something to hold onto. Buffy rushed the CEO and knocked him out quickly, before turning to Hardison. Eliot smacked The Master in his face with his palm, and he stumbled backwards again, before sweeping Eliot's legs out from under him and pinning him to the floor. "Eliot!" Buffy exclaimed, making a move to help him.</p><p>"You come any closer and he's dead!" The Master exclaimed.</p><p>"He's dead either way," Buffy said solemnly.</p><p>Eliot tried to flip over so he could get The Master back, try and even the playing field. But it wasn't working. He was stuck, and there was nothing he could do about it except wait for the inevitable end he was going to experience. The Master sank his fangs into Eliot's neck and Eliot cried out in pain. Buffy cried out in alarm and he could feel his entire world going hazy. The Master kept drinking and drinking from him until Eliot was surprised he had any blood left. The Master stood and flicked a switch, and a mist covered the room. Eliot could feel everything going black, and he just hoped that Hardison and Buffy could get out alive.</p>
<hr/><p>Eliot woke up to a buzzing sound drilling into his skull. His eyes fluttered only to be shocked by the brightness of lights overhead. There was a choked sob and a whoosh of air, and someone said, "Well, what do you know? It appears that research didn't go to waste."</p><p>Struggling to open his eyes still, Eliot eventually managed to open his eyes fully and get adjusted to the light. The man from before was standing over him with a predatory smile. "Hello there. Remember me?" he asked.</p><p>Oh, yeah, Eliot remembered him all right. He wasn't sure how he was alive, but he was certainly going to make use of this stroke of dumb luck. He surged forward, wrapping his hands around the man's neck. Surprised, he scrabbled at Eliot's hands but it was no use. Elliot wasn't going to let go unless he wanted to. And right now, he wanted anything but that.</p><p>Two pairs of hands ripped him away from the scum he was trying to choke, and he turned, furious, to Hardison and Buffy. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he asked incredulously. "He's going to get away!"</p><p>"It's almost dawn, Eliot, he has nowhere to go," Buffy said.</p><p>"Then why is he running?!" he gestured towards the door at the end of the building they were in. "Let me go!"</p><p>Despite his best attempts, Hardison and Buffy held onto him tight. He eventually struggled out of Buffy's grip, but was surprised when Hardison continued to hold him. "I'll break your wrist if you don't let go," he threatened Hardison.</p><p>"Try it," Hardison said. "I've got the stuff to kill you if you decide to freak on us."</p><p>"Why the hell—" Eliot froze. He reached a suddenly shaky hand up to his neck. Placed fingers on his pulse point.</p><p>There was something not right there. His heart was beating, but it was...far too slow. Especially for just being in a fight and coming off an adrenaline high. Something here was very...very wrong.</p><p>Buffy looked beyond upset as she put a hand on Eliot's shoulder. "I'm so sorry," she breathed. "I tried to stop it, but it was too late. If we didn't finish the siring, you'd be dead."</p><p>"I'm already dead," Eliot said hollowly. Looking down at his hands and turning them over. He didn't feel much different, except for very heightened senses. Everything else he had seen in the movies—the desire for blood, the fangs, everything—didn't feel like it applied. "But we have bigger problems than that."</p><p>"Namely?" Hardison asked incredulously.</p><p>"Namely whatever method those idiots used worked on me," Eliot said. "They can use it on other people, and we have no way of stopping them."</p><p>Hardison blinked. "Shit," he said. "That's a lot of people at risk. Is there any way that we can figure out where they might attack?"</p><p>"Some place with not a lot of light," Buffy offered. "They have to be able to get there without burning themselves in the sun."</p><p>Which posed another problem. "How am <em>I</em> getting out of here before nightfall?" Eliot asked. "Because I need to help you guys. But if sun burns vampires...and I'm..." Not a human, anymore. He couldn't choke out those words.</p><p>"There might be one thing," Buffy said. "I need to talk to Giles about it, though."</p><p>"Do it. I need to get out of here. I can't wait all day."</p><p>"We waited all through last night and most of tonight to see if you would survive, Eliot, I think you can wait a day," Hardison said.</p><p>"Not if their methods work and they have a way to prove that to their people," Eliot said. "Then it's only a matter of time before they attack."</p><p>Buffy pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number quickly, taking a few steps away to talk to this Giles guy. Eliot watched her with a pang of regret. He had really liked Buffy. But she had a duty to kill vampires, and if he <em>was</em> one...well, he wasn't sure he would live very long past the end of this job.</p><p>Hardison lightly tapped Eliot's arm. "You should talk to her, man," he said softly.</p><p>"There's nothing I can say to make this better," Eliot sighed.</p><p>"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try," Hardison reasoned.</p><p>Eliot mock-glared at Hardison. Hardison just nudged him towards Buffy.</p><p>With another sigh, Eliot walked up to Buffy as she hang up. "We need to talk," he said.</p><p>"Agreed," Buffy replied, dragging him further away from Hardison.</p><p>"Listen, I know how you feel about vampires, and I'm coming to terms with the fact that I might not live to see tomorrow," Eliot said.</p><p>"What? Eliot—"</p><p>"—There's no hard feelings, all right? You do what you have to do, and if that's to drive a stake through my heart, I get it. But let me write a list to my team of backups they can find first, because they do good work—"</p><p>"—Eliot, hang on—"</p><p>"—No, it's fine, Buffy—"</p><p>"—No, it's not!" Buffy exclaimed, clamping a hand over Eliot's mouth. "You're planning on sacrificing yourself like some sort of lamb to the slaughter! That's not okay!"</p><p>"You have a duty to kill vampires," Eliot said.</p><p>"Yeah, because they're trying to kill all the humans on Earth and take over the world!" Buffy exclaimed. "You're not trying to do that! And I don't want to kill you if I don't have to!"</p><p>Eliot frowned at her. "But...then what am I going to do?"</p><p>"I don't know," she said. "Find a hobby that will help you get through boredom when you can't go outside during the day. Knitting. Crochet. Cooking."</p><p>"I already know how to cook," Eliot said.</p><p>"Perfect. Cook to your heart's content during the day and perform the bulk of your heists and jobs at night. This is providing that Giles' potion doesn't work, which it might."</p><p>"You think it will?" Eliot asked, heart soaring with hope.</p><p>"It won't make you human again," Buffy warned. "But it will let you head out into the sun without an issue. It's a secret that's been hidden from vampires for millennia, but something tells me that in this case, we can make an exception with who knows."</p><p>Eliot grinned. He was so happy he could just about kiss Buffy right now. He put a hand to her cheek, and leaned in, and she leaned forward too, and all of a sudden they were kissing, lips somehow moving in rhythm with each other. They pulled apart and Buffy giggled. "Your skin is still a little cold," she said. "Probably poor circulation."</p><p>"Yeah, well, I've got a lot of things I need to get used to now," Eliot said. "Guess one of them will be making sure my workouts help with circulation so I feel less like a stiff."</p><p>Buffy giggled a little more, somewhat hysterically. "I thought you were dead," she whispered. "When we were waiting for you, I saw it was dawn and I thought you were dead."</p><p>"But I'm not," Eliot said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. She leaned into the touch. "I'm here. And yeah, it's a little different, but there's no one I'd rather be with."</p><p>"Not even Hardison?" Buffy teased.</p><p>"Not even Hardison," Eliot said back with a smile.</p><p>"Uh, I'm still here!" Hardison snapped from behind them.</p><p>"Yeah, and I'm really annoyed about it, considering you getting yourself captured got me killed and turned into a vampire!" Eliot snapped back. But it was all bark and no bite. Eliot would do anything for his team. And, he was realizing, Buffy was becoming a part of that "team.</p><p>There was a honk outside the warehouse and Buffy held up a hand. "Stay here, Eliot, we don't want you getting hurt."</p><p>Brief confusion at that statement melted into irritation when he remembered what happened. "This thing had better work," he spat. "I don't want to be walking around risking sunburn every damn day for the rest of my life."</p><p>Buffy let a hand rest on Eliot's shoulder for a moment before she went to talk outside. Hardison huffed. "You know, man, you can be real annoying with your macho man shtick," he said.</p><p>Eliot rolled his eyes. "You expect me to be completely calm after I found out that I'm undead? This is how I'm keeping from freaking out, man, give me a break."</p><p>Hardison grumbled. "All I'm saying is it's nice to know that I'm not always the butt of a poor joke, and that I'm actually valued."</p><p>"You value yourself enough without me doing stuff for you," Eliot said.</p><p>Giles walked in with Buffy and passed a vial to Eliot. "Here you go, Eliot," he said. "We don't quite know if this will work, because vampirism has evolved so much over time, but with any luck, you should be able to drink this and go out in sunlight for the next twenty four hours. You would have to take it every day you want to go outside, however, I'm afraid."</p><p>"So it's my form of an antidepressant, then," Eliot said with a shrug. "So long as we can get the ingredients it should be fine. What's in it?"</p><p>"A little nutmeg, just a pinch of garlic, some rosemary, and holy water mixed together in water. The garlic and holy water should not be enough to kill you, but it might sting."</p><p>"Essentially, we're trying to neutralize the whole vampire thing for twenty four hours with this," Buffy said. "Are you willing to try it?"</p><p>"Not much else I can do," Eliot said with a shrug. He knocked back the vile and started hacking immediately. "<em>God,</em> that was sharper than expected!"</p><p>"Was it the garlic?" Buffy asked worriedly.</p><p>"Nah, I'm pretty sure it was the Holy Water. I tasted the garlic and it didn't hurt any more than normal."</p><p>"Normal?" Buffy asked. "Eliot, you might want to consider that you're allergic to garlic."</p><p>"Never," Eliot said. "I'm never giving up garlic. Not for you, not for vampires, not for anything."</p><p>Buffy muttered, "Great, I'm working with an Italian."</p><p>Giles seemed unimpressed. "Shall we see if sunlight hurts you?" he asked, herding everyone towards the door.</p><p>Buffy, Hardison, and Giles stepped out no problem. Eliot was a little more hesitant. The Master was no longer anywhere in the warehouse, though, and he focused on his anger at him and the promise of being able to knock his lights out when he took a step outside. He blinked in the sun. "God, that's bright," he complained.</p><p>"Does it hurt?" Hardison asked.</p><p>"Hurts my eyes," Eliot said. "Doesn't hurt my skin or anything, though."</p><p>"Then it works!" Buffy exclaimed. "That's good. A relief, really."</p><p>"Yeah, real relieved," Eliot said. "We still have to stop vampires from taking over the entirety of the city, though."</p><p>"Right," Buffy said. "Giles, we need your car."</p><p>"You are not driving my car," Giles said firmly. "But I'll drive you wherever it is you need to go."</p><p>"Leverage Incorporated," Eliot said. "Nate's probably gonna try and kill me all over again, though."</p>
<hr/><p>Eliot, Hardison, and Buffy all walked through the hall to get to the back room where Leverage was housed. Eliot was trying to not show how objectively terrified he was of someone tackle-hugging him or trying to look him over only to realize that something was wrong. He knocked on the door before turning the doorknob and walking in. "Eliot!" Parker immediately exclaimed, jumping into his arms for a hug. "Oh my god, are you okay?!"</p><p>"Yeah, I'm fine," Eliot choked out, still winded by Parker's death grip around his ribs. Not nearly as much as he would have been before, though. "Nate here?"</p><p>"Here and worried," Parker said, taking a step back.</p><p>"Worried?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"His version of worried," Parker said.</p><p>Eliot and Hardison shared a look. "Pissed," they explained to Buffy.</p><p>Buffy walked in, shoving Eliot forward. "We found Hardison!" she called into the office. "And all it took was a small kidnapping and Eliot nearly dying!"</p><p>Nate and Sophie came over, Nate looking angry enough to maul a bear. But Sophie's shrewd eyes tore into Eliot, keeping him rooted to the spot. "Nearly dying?" she asked. "Because he looks dead to me."</p><p>Eliot couldn't find anything to say.</p><p>"Well, dead and undead people do...have certain similarities," Buffy allowed. "How did you know?"</p><p>"He looks the exact same shade of pale the contacts I have who I suspected were vampires had," Sophie said. "And that aside, he still doesn't look very calm. And I've never really seen him shaken before unless someone on our team is presumed dead."</p><p>"You're really observant," Buffy said appreciatively.</p><p>"You really need to stop tearing me to shreds with a look," Eliot sighed. "Yeah, I died. The vampires' testing proved that they can make new vampires using...whatever method they used."</p><p>"Misted blood," Hardison said. "Nasty. We were covered for hours before they finally doused us with a hose."</p><p>Eliot rolled his eyes. "Blood just happens sometimes, Hardison, it's fine," he said.</p><p>"Uh, no, it's not fine!" Hardison snapped back. "It was absolutely nasty!"</p><p>"Boys," Nate warned. "Not the time."</p><p>Eliot ran a hand through his hair. "We know that they know it worked. They'll be attacking soon if we're not careful. We need to figure out the where and when."</p><p>Buffy hummed. "They might have targets in the files?" she asked. "Nate, did you see the files Eliot was suspicious of?"</p><p>"No. Eliot?" Nate prompted.</p><p>Eliot walked over to the computer he had been using before and turned it on, pulling up the files in question. "It was just budget reports," he said. "But something about them didn't feel right to me."</p><p>Nate looked them over and nodded. "They'll be attacking the subway," he said.</p><p>"How do you know?" Eliot asked.</p><p>"They bought humidifiers, and enough explosives and shrapnel to make several small pipe bombs, enough to fill public transportation and do maximum damage," Nate said. "Enclosed space for the humidifiers to work, explosives designed for shrapnel and not death—reasonable to assume subway."</p><p>Eliot looked them over and growled. "They also bought a property just half a block from one of the local stations."</p><p>"Where?" Nate asked.</p><p>Eliot pulled up a map and said, "Here, just outside of Mel's." He pointed at the spot.</p><p>"All right. We have no time to waste," Nate said. "Let's go steal a bomb."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Looking for bombs in subway cars was not an option. They didn't have time to search through every last one of them, and there was no way that the vampires would risk the bomb and humidifiers being discovered before it was time, so it was reasonable enough to assume the bomb would be on the subway rails or the walls. Eliot, Parker, Hardison, and Buffy went to the station and jumped down onto the tracks before anyone could stop them, and ran inside the tunnel. Nate and Sophie stayed above ground and inspected the seemingly-empty property.</p><p>Hardison and Parker went one way, and Eliot and Buffy went the opposite. They ran down the rails, searching desperately for any sign of the bombs. Nothing, nothing, nothing...and then there was a half-ring of pipe bombs pinned to the walls of the subway. "Smart vampires," Buffy said. "That'll do a lot of damage."</p><p>"Not smart, stupid," Eliot said. "There's too many. It'll make the ceiling cave in."</p><p>"As if there wasn't enough of a reason to get rid of them," Buffy muttered. "How do we go about this?"</p><p>The two of them looked for a detonator, and found it about fifteen feet away. Eliot swore, loudly. "Are you kidding me? This is the one kind of bomb I haven't had experience or buddies disarming."</p><p>Buffy looked near-frantic. "What the hell are we going to do now?" she asked.</p><p>"We have to try something," Eliot said, determined.</p><p>The two of them went to the detonator as Eliot pressed against his comms. "Guys, we found the bombs. It'll make the walls cave in, get everyone out, fast as you can!"</p><p>There was crackling in and out and Eliot could hear Nate, tinny, as he said, "The humidifiers are in the property, Eliot. We're taking out the blood from them as fast as we can, but we need you to stop the bomb if it's going to cave everything in!"</p><p>Eliot looked over the detonator and undid the casing, frantically looking around for and hoping there would be a simple <em>OFF</em> switch, but he had no such luck. "I can't find a way to turn it off, he said, looking at Bucky. "I don't know how to stop this."</p><p>Buffy ripped the cord from the detonator to the pipe bombs, saying, "That'll take the bombs out, but we still have to worry about the detonator."</p><p>Eliot lifted it up and found a timer with thirty seconds left on the bottom of it. "There's no time!" Eliot ran to the nearest electrical room and tossed it in, slamming the door closed. He grabbed Buffy's hand and exclaimed, "Run!"</p><p>The two of them booked it to the station as fast as they could. Eliot could make out the details on people's faces when the detonator hit zero and a deafening <em>BANG</em> resonated through the tunnels. He curled up into the fetal position in sheer <em>pain</em> from the sound, and Buffy was shaking his arm, exclaiming something over and over. Eliot could feel a rumbling in the ground, and instantly understood: a train was coming.</p><p>He grabbed Bucky, pulling her close to the station and helping her climb onto the platform, where Parker and Hardison pulled her away from the edge. They put their hands down to grab him and Elliot took the hands gratefully, using his legs to scale the short wall in front of him. Elliot pulled himself up onto the platform only to feel a <em>whoosh</em> of a train behind him. The second time he had cheated death in as many days. He sank to his knees, ears still ringing from the explosion. People were swarming him, asking him questions. He couldn't focus on them. All he could see was Buffy, fighting through the crowd to see him. When she dropped to her knees in front of him, he brought her forward and kissed her, slow, and soft, and tender, and she returned it. When they broke apart, Eliot could finally somewhat hear again and he asked, "Do you want to maybe...go out with me?"</p><p>Buffy laughed and nodded. "That sounds like fun," she said. "So long as you promise the only fireworks would be from kissing."</p><p>Eliot smiled. "I promise," he said.</p>
<hr/><p>Buffy lightly shoved Eliot against the wall before capturing his mouth in a hungry kiss. Elliot returned it enthusiastically and as they pulled apart briefly, he smiled. "You sure you want this?" he asked.</p><p>"As sure as I've ever been," Buffy murmured back. "Now shut up and kiss me."</p><p>Eliot did so as they made their way to his room in his apartment. They had just had dinner, after a romantic movie date, and both he and Buffy were more than ready to take it up a notch.</p><p>As Eliot gently corralled Buffy to the bed, he leaned in and kissed her on her mouth once, before moving to dot kisses all up her jawline and down her neck, before sucking a hickey onto her shoulder. Buffy moaned and Eliot grinned. That was a noise he never expected to hear from Buffy when he met her, but he was so glad he got to hear it.</p><p>The two of them got to the bed and as Eliot helped Buffy with her shirt, he laughed. "You do like your silver-colored things, don't you?" he asked.</p><p>"So I like irony. Sue me," Buffy scoffed. "Do you like it?"</p><p>The bra in question was a grey, sparkly bra that had sequins and glitter over it that caught the eye beautifully in the moonlight. Eliot touched it gently just to make sure it was not <em>actually</em> silver. Buffy had to make the change to gold earrings a little while back because Eliot kept on accidentally brushing up against the dangly silver when she wore it on dates. But thankfully, that was just the color of the lacy cloth. He reached around her back and unhooked it as Buffy worked on the buttons of his shirt. "You look beautiful," Eliot murmured, kissing her breasts as best he could while she worked.</p><p>"Thank you," Buffy murmured. "You look quite handsome yourself."</p><p>Eliot grinned, fangs glinting a bit in the dim light of the room. He had been unnerved by them at first but it soon proved to be quite the eye-catcher whenever he wanted to flirt. Women always asked him about his battle scars, and now, his fangs. Not that he ever gave them more attention than the con required; he now had a girl at home to return to. One who could fight to keep herself safe should any bad guys set their sights on more than just him. It helped him feel safer about her and she enjoyed a good fight.</p><p>"I have to travel to Washington DC tomorrow to make sure that everything there is safe," Buffy breathed as Eliot worked on his kissing. "So you'd better make this a night that I can remember."</p><p>"I aim to please," Eliot said with a playful smirk. "You don't mind bruises, do you?"</p><p>"Not at all," Buffy said with a playful smile of her own."</p><p>The next morning would come as it always did, and Eliot would take his medicine and head to Leverage as always. Buffy would head to the airport and do what she needed to do as a Slayer. But at the end of the day, they would always come back to each other. And if Eliot ever got hurt on the job, and needed to rest and recover for a little while, well. He knew exactly which hitter he would call in to work with his team to get the job done. And she was right next to him in bed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any and all comments welcome!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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